By now, almost everyone is familiar with the Internet and the World Wide Web (Web). The Internet is a collection of interconnected communication networks that together span the globe. Information content on the Internet is presented via pages, each page comprising one or more files that are stored on a computer server that is coupled to the Internet. Each page is assigned a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), which is essentially an address on the Internet identifying the server and the particular file on that server. These pages are accessible to anyone with access to a computer coupled to the Internet and who knows (or at least can determine, for instance, via a search engine) the URL of the particular page of interest. Most pages on the Web are, not only directly accessible, but also accessible via other pages on the Internet through a protocol termed hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is a computer language generally used to describe how pages are organized, formatted, and linked together via the Internet. Other languages are known and are being developed also.
Web browsers are computer programs that understand HTTP and HTML and enable one to access and view Web pages via direct addressing (typing the address of a Web page in an address field) and/or by hyperlinking as described above. Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Explorer are the two most common Web browser software packages in use today. These Web browsers generally load and display a single page on the computer screen at any given time. When a Web browser links to that page, the browser software loads and displays that page.
In HTTP, pages on the Web may be interconnected via hyperlinks. A hyperlink is a portion of text or an image in one Web page that automatically addresses another page on the Web. By manipulating one's mouse to cause the screen pointer to move over the hyperlink and clicking the left mouse button, the page associated with that hyperlink is accessed via the Internet and is made to replace the previous page on one's computer screen.
The organization of Web pages relative to each other in accordance with hyperlinks in the HTTP protocol may be characterized as linear or tree-like. One may directly access any page on the Web simply by typing in its URL in the appropriate field of a Web browser. However, accessing Web pages through the use of hyperlinks, which, in practice, is the way most Web pages are accessed, is through a tree-like organization. That is, a first Web page contains a plurality of hyperlinks to other Web pages. Those other pages contain multiple hyperlinks to even further pages, and so on.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/561,862 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Three Dimensional Internet and Computer File Interface”, which is incorporated by reference herein, discloses a web browser that provides an interface to the Web that displays multiple Web pages simultaneously in a display mode that emulates three or four dimensional space. The browser provides its user a Web surfing experience like moving or navigating through a three or four dimensional space. While the method and apparatus disclosed in the aforementioned patent application is particularly adapted for use in connection with browsing the Web, it can also readily be applied to interfacing with any computer program on which a user might wish to open and view multiple files simultaneously, each in its own window or panel.
In accordance with aforementioned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/561,862, a plurality of related Web pages are organized and presented for view on a computer screen in an apparent three or four dimensional relationship to each other, as illustrated in FIG. 1. In one embodiment, five Web pages, labeled 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively, are displayed comprising center, top, bottom left, and right panels forming five inside faces of a cube. The sixth and last face of the cube corresponds to the view screen of the monitor and is not filled with a page. Accordingly, the operator of the computer has the impression that he is looking into the inside of a cube from one end of the cube.
Other Web browsers are known which allow the simultaneous display of multiple Web pages in other arrangements, e.g., a standard, two-dimensional, tile arrangement.
Many computer application software programs other than Web browsers also can simultaneously display multiple files, each in a different panel.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved graphical user interface tool for interfacing with a computer program that displays multiple panels simultaneously each corresponding to a different file or file portion which can be operated upon by the program independently of the files in other panels.